Libya oil crisis deepens as loading halted at five terminals

Libya suspended oil exports from five eastern ports, while the country’s output dipped further amid an escalating stalemate over who controls the central bank.

The eastern-based government ordered the halt of oil-loading operations at the ports of Brega, Es Sider, Ras Lanuf, Zueitina and Hariga, according to people familiar with the matter. They declined to be identified because the information is private.

The terminals have a combined capacity of around 800,000 barrels a day, according to Bloomberg calculations. Libya, an OPEC member, is divided between eastern and western governments following a power struggle that has persisted for about a decade.

Oil output has more than halved this week to less than 450,000 barrels a day since eastern authorities on Aug. 26 said it would shut down of all production and exports. Supplies to terminals including Es Sider — the country’s largest — and Ras Lanuf were affected. Some exports continued after the order, as oil-loading was already under way.

The halt in loading at five ports comes after the internationally recognized government in the west recently moved to replace central bank Governor Sadiq Al-Kabir, who has allies in the east. He has refused to step down from his post at the monetary authority, which manages billions of dollars in oil revenues among the two governments.

Libya was was pumping 1 million barrels of oil a day before the Aug. 26 order. The vast majority of production is located in the east. 

Libya’s energy resources have been a key battleground for factions vying for political advantage, bringing frequent stoppages. The central bank stalemate is the latest episode in threatening a 2021 United Nations-backed political arrangement, which ended the war between the rival camps. It was supposed to bring them together after elections which never happened, leaving room for tensions. 

The nation — which sits atop Africa’s largest oil reserves — was producing 1.27 million barrels a day of oil on Aug. 1, according to figures from the state oil firm National Oil Corp., before the 300,000 barrels-a-day Sharara field was shut down.